Born and brought up in Peshawar, now in Pakistan, he studied in National High School up to matriculation in 1944. Thereafter he did intermediate science with physics and mathematics from Gordon College Rawalpindi, followed by graduation with honors in Electrical Engineering in 1951 from College of Engineering & Technology Jadavpur, Calcutta.

After varied experience as electrical engineer for 12 years in Hirakud Dam Project, Punjab PWD Electricity Branch and Indian Railways, he served Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) with distinction from 1963 to 1975. As General Manager Jhansi Project, he made a mark in establishing it from land acquisition to commissioning in three years.

While in BHEL, Mr. Kapur had a rare distinction of holding a diplomatic assignment for five years, firstly as First Secretary and later as Counsellor in Indian Embassy in Moscow to coordinate wide ranging industrial collaborations between Soviet enterprises and public sector units in India.

Most distinctive milestone of his career was his selection as Founder Chairman & Managing Director, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) in early 1976. Building NTPC management systems and commissioning super thermal power projects with zero time and cost overruns was phenomenal success story for which World Bank Board of Executive Directors described Mr. Kapur as “Model Manager”

In June, 1980, D V Kapur was appointed Secretary to Government of India and served in Ministries of Power, Heavy Industry and Chemicals & Petrochemicals till he retired in September 1986.

As Secretary Heavy Industry, he was closely involved in selection of Suzuki of Japan for technology transfer and investment partner of Maruti Udyog Ltd. for establishing a state of art automobile plant.

As Secretary Heavy Industry and Chemicals & Petrochemicals, he also made significant contributions by introducing new management practices and liberal industrial licensing initiatives like “Broad Banding” and “Minimum Economic Sizes”.

As a technocrat, Mr. Kapur was also associated with number of National Institutions:

• Member, Atomic Energy Commission
• Member, Advisory Committee of Cabinet for Science & Technology
• Chairman, Board of Governors, IIT Bombay (1983-1994)
• Member, Board of Governors, IIM Lucknow
• Chairman, National Productivity Council

In recognition of his “services and significant contributions in the field of Technology, Management and Industrial Development”, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad, conferred on him degree of D.Sc. In March 2010 Dr. Kapur was invited by National Council of Education, Bengal to deliver Triguna Sen memorial lecture and was also conferred its “Fellowship”. He is recipient:

• India Power, Life Time Achievement Award” presented by Council of Power Utilities, for his contributions to Energy and Industry.
• ENERTIA Life Time Achievement Award in 2010
• Project Management Associates India conferred “Lifetime Achievement Award” and adopted him as Mentor during its 20th International Conference on Project Management in December 2013.
• Meritorious Services Award for exemplary services to Indian Energy Sector was presented to him by India Energy Forum.
• Eminent Engineer award 2016 awarded by Engineering Council of India (ECI)

After retirement from Government, Mr. Kapur got associated actively as Chairman/Member Board of Directors of leading corporates in private sector. These included:

• Advisor, Board of Directors, DCM Ltd. -1987-1995 (8 years)
• Chairman, GKN Plc. UK (India) -1987-2013 (26 years)
• Chairman, Jacobs Engineering USA (India) -1988-2005 (17 years)
• Director, Kelvinator India - 1987-1995 (8 years)
• Director, Ashok Leyland – 1988-1994 (6 years)
• Director, Honda Siel – 1988-2019 (31 years)
• Director, Tata Chemicals – 1989-2007 (18 years)
• Director, L&T – 1989-2004 (15 years)
• Director, Reliance Industries – 2001-2017 (16 years)
• Director, DLF – 2006-2019 (13 years)
• Founder Chairman, Reliance Power – 1994-2002 (8 years)

Mr. Kapur is also Trustee in following Charitable Trusts:

• ICARE from 2013 onwards
• Indian Trust for Rural Heritage & Development (ITRHD) from 2011 onwards
• D V Kapur Foundation from 2023 onwards